Synthesis and electrochemical characterization of a new polymer constituted of alternating carbazole and oxadiazole moieties

We report herein the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of a novel copolymer containing an electron rich carbazole moiety and an electron deficient oxadiazole unit—poly[N-(2′-ethylhexyl)-carbazole-3,6-diyl-1″,3″,4″-oxadiazole-2″,5″-diyl] (PCO). PCO can be dissolved in THF, CHCl3, xylene, and DMSO. The structure of the polymer is confirmed by FT-IR, NMR and elemental analysis. The optical and electronic properties of the polymer are investigated by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as cyclic voltammetry. The results show that the polymer films emit greenish-blue light (λmax 485 nm) upon UV excitation. Both p-doping and n-doping processes are observed in cyclic voltammetric investigation. A comparison between the properties of polycarbazole and polycarbazole–oxadiazole has been presented.